Our collective hearts were broken’

Friday

Nov 22, 2013 at 3:13 PMNov 22, 2013 at 3:13 PM

Here’s a look at some of the events held today to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy:

- Dallas held a ceremony in Dealey Plaza, the site of the assassination. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told a crowd of about 5,000, “It seems like we all grew up that day. Our collective hearts were broken. … A new era dawned and another waned a half century ago when hope and hatred collided right here in Dallas.”

- A moment of silence was held at 12:30 p.m., the time Kennedy was shot.

- A JFK monument was unveiled on the “grassy knoll.”

- Wreath-laying ceremonies took place in Boston, JFK’s hometown, and at Arlington National Cemetery, where he is buried.

- Flags flew at half-staff at the White House and at the Capitol.

- The Rev. John Robert Skeldon used an opening prayer at the House of Representatives (where Kennedy served from 1947-1953) to remember the president. He said, “Help us, Lord God, to make the late president’s inaugural vision our own so that together as fellow Americans we may ‘ask not what our country can do for us, but rather what we can do for our country.’”